September: SunflowersThese are amazing subjects for crafts because they are so beautiful, colourful and spark so many conversations with the kids. They are so architectural and magestic. If you do this activity in the last summer, look out for sunflowers in the shops. They are lovely to brighten up the house, especially when the nights start drawing in! Also in these activities, I’ve included a cute buzzy bee to promote conversations about nature, pollination and the environment. Activity 1: Sunflower Print/Painting: What you will need: PaperBubble WrapScissorsSponge rollerSilicone Pastry brushPaint trayPaint: Black, yellow and red

Skills you will use:Mixing colour, Fine motor, Printmaking,

How to do it: 1. Draw round a round object like the bottom of a cup or a small bowl to get a good shape. Use a permenant marker so that you can see the line. 2. Cut out the circle of bubble wrap out.

3. Squirt out some black paint into the paint tray (about a 10p amount is enough)

4. Use the roller to apply the paint onto the bumpy side of the bubble wrap. 5. Have a piece of paper ready….turn the bumpy side of the bubble wrap onto the paper. When you peel the bubble wrap off, you will have a black spotty print which looks just like the sunflower seeds. Put the bubble wrap to one side, we will use this again for the next activity. 6. Squeeze out the red and yellow paint in the tray. Take care not to mix them, we want the kids to experiment with mixing in a minute. 7. Using the silicone pastry brush, dip into the yellow and paint some petal shapes on to the paper around the bubble wrap printed middle. Then use the red paint to add some petals. You can see how the colours start to mix and mingle together.

How to do it: 1. Get a piece of paper, brown or a dark colour works well. Using the same object you used for making the bubble wrap circle, draw another circle. TIP: draw your circle at the side of the paper to avoid waste and it’s easier to cut out. 2. Cut out the circle3. Layer the orange and yellow tissue paper. 4 layers works well. You can do this by folding or cutting out some small pieces (aprox 2cm x 5 cm) and laying them on top of each other. Draw a petal shape on the top piece. 4. Using the scissors, cut around the shape you have drawn but also cut the layers underneath. You should have several petals cut out by now. Repeat until you have around 20 petals in yellow and orange. 5. Cut a couple of leaf shapes out of the green paper and stick these on to one side of the paper circle so that they emerge from behind the petals, which you will add on in a minute. 6. Put a circle of PVA glue around the outside of the paper circle and start to stick on the petals so that they go around the circle but also that they overlap each other to make a lovely layered effect. 7. Finally, glue the bubble wrap circle that we used to print the sunflower with on top of the petals and you get a fantastic textured sunflower.

Activity 3: Buzzy Bee

What you will need:A cardboard tubeYellow and black PaintPaintbrushBlack paper stripsAntenae made from black paperSmall doilyGoogly eyesA black felt tipPVA Glue and Spreader

Skills you will use: Painting, 3D, Collage,

How to do it:

Squeeze out some yellow paint in your tray, about the size of a 10p.

Put the tube on your fingers and it yellow with your brush in the other hand. Alternatively, hold the tube for them. Let the tube dry while you prepare the other materials.

Paint the doily with black paint on boths sides. Set aside to dry.

Cut some long strips of black paper, long enough to wrap around the tube and rejoin.

Cut out 2 antenae shapes. Mine looked like the letter ‘i’ without the gap in between the dot and the line.

When the tube is touch dry spread some PVA glue onto the paper strip and wrap it around the tube. Repeat with 2 or 3 more strips of paper to make the bee have stripes.

Attach the antenae inside the tube with a small blob of PVA glue.

Glue on the googley eyes

Draw a smile on with the felt tip.

Once the doily is touch dry, put a strip of glue down the middle and glue it onto the bee’s back.